Lingering Shadows
by Lady Black Mage
Summary: Love can be one of the most powerful forces in the world...but it's also a deadly, sweet poison, as Princess Luna is about to learn... WARNING! Contains: LunaxSombra shipping, dark overtones, and tragic, doomed romance elements.
1. Chapter 1: The Prison of Shadows

**A/N: Figured I may as well post this here, since I was already uploading it to deviantArt and FIMfiction. Please note, that I am in no way affiliated with Hasbro, and the creative properties and titles of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic do not belong to me. If you are not a fan of the idea of Princess Luna and King Sombra together as a pairing, then I would advise you get out now while you still can.**

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Chapter 1: The Prison Of Shadows

Long, twisting vines of ivy crept up the side of the observatory tower, one of the few locations in the royal palace that was overgrown. The royal gardeners had barely touched the ivy in the past year or two, at Princess Luna's request. She loved the charm and character the vines added to her tower, and if there were any concerns about the creeping plant breaking down the stone and masonwork, then she would be the one to reinforce the tower with magic. Her elder sister, Princess Celestia, thought the notion a fine one, and nopony else objected.

At that moment, she was finishing the spellwork necessary to weaken the choking vines, and watching as the sun started its slow climb down from its zenith. The day was moving into the afternoon and before long, the afternoon would move into the dusk, and then Luna would raise the moon and begin her official duties as the Princess of the Night. It wasn't easy, becoming reaccustomed to her duties after a thousand years of exile, but it kept her busy and gave her mind something to focus on. And she was endlessly grateful for the distractions from her worrying.

Particularly given the rather disturbing dream she had experienced before she woke that day.

Her spell finished its work at last, mending each crack in the stonework seamlessly and pushing the grasping tendrils of ivy back. Despite being pleased in her work, Luna frowned as her mind slipped back to her unsettling dream. Dreams were not always prophetic, but many times they still held an ominous portent. Having dominion over the dreams of all her subjects had taught her such over time. And while some dreams were merely limited to personal matters that upset somepony, often there were dreams that held such portents for all of Equestria, and Luna knew her dream was of the latter nature.

_I should tell Tia._ She thought, somewhat anxiously. Rebuilding trust with her sister after a thousand years still had its rocky moments for the both of them, but all the same, her instincts told her to go to Celestia. After all, the sisters had no better confidant for such matters than one another. Still, she hesitated. She didn't want to say anything right away, in the off-chance her fears would prove unfounded.

_Perhaps I should look into the matter myself first._

After a few more moments of hesitation, she left the observatory tower, her purpose taking her down to the subterranean levels of the palace. Luna hadn't been down there since her return, and she understood her sister rarely descended to those levels as well. Once down there, she raised her horn high, illuminating the dark passages with a spell of moonbeams and starlight. The soft glow revealed that the lower corridors were decently kept, but there were still layers of dust on the edges of the walls. She did her best to ignore it all, and returned her attention to the corridor. There were several doors down the long hall, and she was trying to find one in particular. Several of the doors were chambers for storing different sorts of enchanted items and relics, but at first glance, there was no way to tell one door from the next.

Luna strengthened her moonbeam spell with each hoofstep, and was soon rewarded when she neared a door where her light magic was reflecting back to her, faint in the cracks around the door. Satisfied she had found the correct chamber, she dimmed the spell and poured forth a small amount of magic to push the door open, entering the room beyond.

Mirrors. Of all the magic in Equestria, mirror-magic was perhaps the most puzzling to work with. Mirrors were given all throughout the years to Celestia as gifts, and the Princess of the Day had had them all stored in this chamber until she had need of them for magic. Most of them lay covered, but even now three grand, full-length mirrors stood at the far wall of the chamber, different sights reflected on each of their surfaces.

A shudder ran from the tips of Luna's ears to her fetlocks, and she hesitated. The magical two-way mirrors always unsettled her. Not that she would ever tell anyone less than her sister that; She was the Princess of the Night, and it would never do to show fear.

"Face your fears." She murmured to herself, the words she had spoken to many a pony in dreams. Carrying herself as regally as possible, holding her head high and tossing back her mane proudly, she strode to the mirror on the left and stood before it for a brief moment, staring into the mist-shrouded hallway reflected in its surface. Another shudder ran through her, but she steeled herself, inhaled deeply, and stepped through the mirror into the hall on the other side.

The mist crept through the dark stone halls, chilling her coat. Mildly irritated, Luna wove a quick enchantment into her coat to ward off the damp chill, then proceeded to follow the hall. Her hoofsteps fell without a sound in this unnerving place, and her horn provided little illumination in this unnatural fog. She had expected as much however, as this extra-dimensional oubliette was designed to be a prison for those foul fiends with little hope of being reformed. Celestia disliked the use of the oubliette, but even she could not deny that it served its purpose well.

There was a small catch near Luna's heart as she thought about it. She herself had very nearly faced an imprisonment of oblivion in the oubliette when she had allowed the parasitic Nightmare-spirit to transform her into Nightmare Moon. It was probably by a sheer fluke that Celestia had sent Luna to her beloved moon, due to the magical Elements of Harmony drawing on the association from Celestia's mind.

"Perhaps the moon was a far kinder prison than I thought," she remarked quietly as she walked through the oubliette. Something about the place was truly disquieting, and more than once she figured it had to be a result of the only prisoner currently held there. After all, she had never been there when under the Nightmare-spirit's thrall. Discord had been turned to stone to contain his powers, thanks to the Elements of Harmony. And the Changeling Queen had fled after her defeat at the hooves of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. No, the single captive held within the oubliette had been there before, for nearly a millennium, and had only recently broken free of his bonds.

But he had been bound once more, thanks to the efforts of Celestia's star pupil and her friends.

Luna continued to follow the path before her, until she arrived before a gateway that led into a huge antechamber. Two of her Night Guards were stationed there, their gazes stoically set on nothing, and the moment they saw her, they jumped to attention.

"Your Highness!" the elder of the two said as they both saluted with their hooves.

"At ease, good sirs," she replied.

"With all due respect, Your Highness," the guard shook his head, "We can never truly be fully at ease in this place."

She gave a solemn nod to indicate she understood, then glanced past them both, past the gate into the antechamber cell beyond. She frowned again, her brow furrowing.

"The prisoner?" she asked.

"He doesn't do much, princess." The younger guard had finally spoke up. "Sometimes we hear him talking to himself, and sometimes he'll mock us, but he never tries to escape or anything."

"Never?" She asked, and both of them shook their heads to confirm. Her frown deepened, and she stared down the hall past the gate for a moment.

"Open the gate."

"Your Highness?" the younger guard said tentatively.

"Are you sure?" his companion asked.

"We are certain," she answered firmly, starting to slip back into a tone of command, "Open the gate."

They responded with respectful nods, reaching around and pulling the gate open together. Luna peered forward, just seeing a faint shimmer of magic, the spell to ward the prisoner away from the gate to dissuade escape. Taking a deep breath and holding her head high, she marched forward.

"Do be careful, won't you, Your Highness?"

"We shall be. Our thanks for your concern." She replied gently, stepping through the barrier spell. It was like plunging into pure ice. One moment there was simply a damp chill in the air, the next she was freezing, and in that icy coldness, she felt an overwhelming sense of evil that clung to the shadows. For a moment, she worried, but the Princess of the Night would not be daunted. She pressed onward without fear, her horn shimmering with the magic of a spell to ward off the iciness.

The shadows stirred.

Several strides brought her into the antechamber, and she glanced up toward the ceiling only to find nothing, save an inky blackness. The antechamber was split in half by many iron bars that stretched down from the blackness before sinking into the floor, clearly designating which end of the room served as a cell.

A useless cell, practically. Luna watched as several tendrils of smoky, curling shadows writhed between the bars, as though dancing idly. It was nothing but show, however; She knew that much. Were it not for the spell upon the iron bars, they would not have been able to keep the prisoner contained at all.

A low, rolling chuckle echoed through the cell.

"You find amusement in your captivity?" Luna asked coolly, glancing around at the walls of the cell. Out of the corner of her vision, she caught movement; A coil of shadows was edging closer to her, moving with the deadly precision of a viper preparing to strike. She turned sharply and glared, raising a forehoof threateningly. The shadow recoiled, slipping away into the mass of greater shadows as another chuckle reverberated through the chamber.

"Show yourself!" She snapped, glaring up at the moving darkness. There was a brief moment of silence, then an answer came to her.

"Very well."

The voice that spoke from the unnatural darkness was deep, warm, and utterly decadent. There was a certain quality to the way the voice spoke, a particular chime to the voice that denoted regality- a sense of peerless royalty-but it had none of the nobility of spirit that Luna and Celestia had in their voices. No, it was indifferent at best. Luna bristled slightly, and watched as the mass of shadows began to draw in tighter upon itself, congealing and tensing as it substaniated. For an instant, Luna caught a glimpse of two eyes in the smoky shadows, glaring out at her. Red irises flashed dangerously, ringed with an acidic green glow that trailed off into violet wisps of mist.

Then the eyes flickered out of sight as the darkness began to fade and dissipate. A figure formed before her as the chamber cleared, until finally a powerfully-built, huge stallion stepped into view, picking up his hooves arrogantly with each stride. Finely-layered armor adorned him from hooves to forehead, where a twisted, dark diadem rested upon his brow. A rich, fine cloak of deep crimson rippled upon his back as he moved, the sort that only royalty would wear. What of his coat that she could see was a deep gray, and his mane and tail were an elegant black. Rising above his diadem was a blood-red horn, and set in his visage were those same sinister eyes the princess had seen in the sea of shadows. And as he smiled at her, his grin revealed a mouth with sharp, predatory fangs.

"So..._rude_." He let out a hiss, though his smile only grew wider. "The royal alicorn princesses simply stride through the land giving orders, dictating to their subjects, with _no _regards for manners whatsoever."

There was a pause, then the unicorn stallion's ruby eyes flickered, and his smile twisted slightly.

"Tyranny after my own heart."

"Sombra." Luna addressed him briskly.

"I am flattered you remember my name, even if my title is lacking," he said smoothly. "It has been well over a thousand years since you and your sister ripped from me my freedom and my empire. It eases the humiliation of my captivity to hear that your sister and you still recognize me, although perhaps not as I deserve."

"What are you plotting?" she demanded.

"Whatever do you mean, princess?" He snorted, rolling his eyes and making no further pretense at smiling. His expression became cold and contemptuous, looking at her like she was a two-bit workhorse.

"Be honest with me now, and perhaps it will ease the judgment against you," she continued stoically, tilting her head back and studying his reaction. Sombra gave her a withering look, the corners of his mouth dropping further and further down as he scowled.

"And what reason would I have to lie to you at this moment?" he scoffed, "I am incarcerated in this miserable tear between the ley lines of this world and the Shadow, unable to do much beyond shifting between forms and speaking for the sake of hearing my own _luxurious _voice. I see little point in trying to escape only to have my physical body shattered again before it becomes stable, so I am going nowhere. What _point _is there in scheming _anything_?"

She stared at him for a long moment, her gaze calculating. Another pony may have been swayed by his words into uncertainty, but she doubted him. Even if what he was saying was true enough in regards to his imprisonment, her dream remained at the back of her mind, and if her suspicions were true, Sombra was behind her dream.

"You have had a thousand years prior with which you could have been scheming a great many things for many moons, Sombra. More likely than not, you were planning on something, and you have time again with which to make more plans of a like nature."

He raised his eyebrows slowly.

"Your tone denotes the voice that speaks from personal experience, alicorn princess."

She looked away at his comment, feeling her face flush with shame. Did that really still show in her mannerisms? She looked back up just in time to see Sombra pace a few steps to the side, his neatly-groomed tail flicking as his gaze fell upon her Cutie Mark. She shifted indignantly at the idea he was staring at her flank, and his eyes flicked in a sudden realization that hadn't been there before.

"Ah, yes," he spoke in a low, purring rumble, "You do speak from experience...Princess Luna. Or perhaps I should address your illustrious person as the mare who was once Nightmare Moon?"

She gave an irritated flex of her wings and stomped a hoof, trying to force him to maintain eye contact with her.

"Do not try to change the subject! I am not-"

"Such _indignation_!" Sombra spoke over her, chuckling once more and resuming his pacing around the cell. "I was merely asking a simple question. After all, individuals like ourselves with a high standing in the Royal Equestrian Court must make every effort to address one another with the respect our titles and stations demand."

Luna sucked in a breath, trying to keep calm. Curse the blackguard and his evasion of the actual topic of conversation! To make things worse, he was doing so by bringing up a topic of little relevance. It wouldn't do to overreact to such a childish obstacle; that was probably exactly what he was hoping for. She shut her eyes, then opened them again, and spoke as calmly as she was able to.

"You gave up a position of any note and standing in the Equestrian Court over a thousand years ago; you are king of no kingdom."

"Only as far as the recognition of the Court goes." He responded in bored tones, his cape rippling as he rolled his shoulders in a shrug. "Yet all my former slaves and anypony who remembers my glorious reign always addresses my person as _King _Sombra."

"One who rises to power through cruelty, and on the backs of honest ponies enslaved, does not deserve any title other than tyrant."

The unicorn king fell silent, staring at her for several long moments before he spoke again, his voice strangely soft.

"Nightmare Moon would have been no different, you realize. And yet, she was a mare of great beauty and power, and all she desired in the end was the love and adoration of her subjects everywhere. Am I not right in that assumption?"

She hesitated, caught off-guard by the strange sweetness with which he spoke of her alternate self. But a second later, she shook off the thought; he wanted her off guard, to lull her into a false sense of security and make it appear as though he was not a threat.

"You speak highly of Nightmare Moon, Sombra, yet you never knew her," she declared, her own voice unusually quiet yet hinting steel. "Do not disassemble and presume to know matters that you speak of so ignorantly."

"_Ignorant?!_" He snapped, rearing on his hind legs and snorting angrily through his nostrils, shadows beginning to billow around him once again. "You and your sister banished me to the Shadow for over a millennium! There was _nothing _in Shadow but waiting for a chance at freedom and taking every moment I could find to spy on the world I once ruled! Were the two of you such little fools, you did not think that I would be watching and waiting?"

She watched as the shadows about him continued to grow and build upon themselves, and the smoky trails of his dark magic pulsed angrily from his eyes. Had she not known better, she would have bolted in fear at the display. But as it stood, the enchantments continued to hold him fast, and this was simply another empty show of power meant to frighten the overly wary.

"There are many things I have seen from the darkness and oblivion, alicorn princess." He continued, dropping back onto his forehooves, the shadows dissipating again. "I am drawn to fear, anger, and hate. I saw the rise and fall of Nightmare Moon, as well as her return and defeat. I know very well about the Nightmare-spirit that enticed you, as I had met with it once or twice before, when it traveled through the Shadow. It is not ignorance that pours from my lips, little moon princess. It is _truth_! And believe me when I say that Nightmare Moon was a creature of exceptional beauty."

"No," she replied, not even thinking twice on the matter as she turned her back to him. Nightmare Moon was a creature of jealousy and pain, and drawn out from the darkness within her own soul-by the spirit that had taunted her. Beauty cannot come from such ugliness within anyone. She hung her head in shame and continued, "No matter if my form may have looked lovely, I as Nightmare Moon would still have been made hideous because of what I allowed to fill my heart."

To that, he said nothing. She raised her head once more and turned back to him. He was watching her closely, and some of the echoes of his foul magic had receded from his eyes. Still, his expression was unreadable, and that set her on edge more than anything else.

"Well?" She demanded. "Do your words fail you at last, Sombra? Have you nothing to say?"

"The sincerity in your words is...unsettling," he replied in an even tone hinting on ennui.

She suppressed letting out a noise of frustration, but turned and began walking away in a huff.

"Thou hath wasted enough of our time already!" she spoke in the booming 'Royal Canterlot Voice' and slipped back into the older speech, "We must raise the moon, and attend to our night, but rest assured, King of No Kingdom, that we shall inform our sister of thy devious scheming!"

Head held high and picking up her hooves as she walked, she strode away, never once looking back to see the wicked smile that slowly spread over King Sombra's face.


	2. Chapter 2: The Worries Of Sisters

**A/N: I must say, I've been rather surprised at the sheer amount of positive reception this story has been getting on FIMfiction and deviantArt with the first chapter alone. Not that that's a bad thing; it prompted me to go ahead and finish chapter two already. And chapter three is already in the works.**

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Chapter 2: The Worries of Sisters

Dusk had descended upon Equestria once again, and Celestia dismissed herself from her duties for the day. The princesses rarely had a day truly free from their duties. They had to move the celestial orbs as always, and both had a strong sense of duty to their people. There were, however, days that they each enjoyed more so than usual. And today had been one such day for Princess Celestia.

"Shall I have your sunshine cake delivered to your private chambers, Your Highness?" The head of the royal kitchens asked, trotting beside the towering Princess of the Day. She let out a small chuckle, giving the stout earth pony an appreciative smile.

"Thank you, Bon Appétit, but that won't be necessary," she replied, "I should like to eat the cake in the Room of Reclining this evening. I want to commune with my sister."

He glanced up at her, looking a touch concerned.

"O-of course, Your Highness. But...your sister was not able to attend the dessert-tasting competition as a judge, like you were. What if she dislikes the sunshine cake? Do you know of any alternative desserts I can have sent to the Room of Reclining as well that may please Princess Luna?"

"Why, yes!" She answered, a twinkle in her magenta eyes. "If I remember correctly, Luna loves those rich, no-bake, cookies-and-cream pies that Crumble Crust is so good at making. If you could possibly have one made and sent up...?"

"Of course, Princess! In fact, I believe there should already be one or two of the pies made. I'll get on that right away!" He answered, turning and darting off in the direction of the kitchens. Celestia gave another warm laugh, her walk taking her to the tall, open windows that looked out on the royal gardens. She paused to stand near one of the windows to watch and wait as her sister raised the moon. Over a thousand years ago, she had had to take responsibility for both of the celestial orbs and the duties of both night and day. And though she would never tell anyone, the return of Luna had eased the weight and weariness upon her heart immensely.

She gazed out at the rapidly darkening sky. The twilight was a fleeting, ambiguous time, often not even lasting a full hour. It was a time now where she could finally begin to relax, and it gave Luna time to ascend to her observatory tower and prepare her night. In secret, Celestia loved watching her younger sister bring the night to Equestria. Luna was a pony of great passion in all that she did, and she threw all of her heart and artistic spirit into weaving her tapestry of stars every night.

"Oh, Luna." She murmured, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as she caught sight of her sister on the balcony. The younger princess strode to the edge of the observatory deck, her jaw set in a determined way as her teal eyes rose to the sky. Her horn glowed as she reared up on her hind legs, forehooves dancing before her.

Celestia let out a soft giggle. Years ago, she had asked Luna why she threw her hooves about so when she brought forth the night. To the elder princess's surprise, she had answered, "Sister, the moon and the stars harmonize their own music, and I am bestowed with the honor of conducting their symphony."

Slowly, the moon began to climb under Luna's magical summons, and one by one, the stars started to wink into view, shining a soft silver many miles away. The locks of the younger princess's starry mane ebbed and flowed like waves crashing and receding upon a beach, and slowly, the sky began to mirror her mane.

"Well done, little sister." Celestia said, turning away from the window, her heart brimming with pride as she walked toward her destination. The Room of Reclining wasn't far from the base of the observatory tower, and she left a magical symbol outside the tower door, a sign for her sister to join her if she so wished.

_We've been doing our best to catch up every night since her return and it still feels like it is never enough time to reconnect._ She thought, turning away from the tower and resuming her trek to the room where she and her sister would be able to relax and commune together.

To her delight, she found the room with its plush pillow-cushions ready and waiting, with the cake and pie waiting on a low table, accompanied with dishes and utensils. She was going to have to remember to give thanks to Bon Appétit, Crumble Crust, and the Cakes for all of this. She settled down onto one of the large cushions, and delicately lifting the utensils on the table with her magic, began to slice herself a generous piece of the sunshine cake.

She was about five bites into the piece of cake when the doors opened, parting to reveal her younger sister's approach. She watched as Luna raised each of her hooves one by one with a sort of strained grace. Celestia could not bring herself to mention it; Luna's instinct had always been to rush headlong to any threat, to charge into battle as a mighty warrior-princess, not to conduct herself with elegance. But perhaps because of this, she was always worrying about trying to appear as graceful as her elder sister before their subjects. And perhaps that was what other ponies saw, a mare of nighttime and power and elegance. But it was with a sort of sad fondness that Celestia was able to see her sister's lingering insecurities in the way Luna moved and how she acted and reacted.

"You summoned me, sister?" She asked, her posture stiff with practiced formality. Celestia offered her a loving smile.

"Relax, little sister." She answered, her voice kind and gentle. "It is only you and I here. You need not worry about anypony else right now. You may always be yourself around me."

The younger alicorn paused, her expression uncertain. After a moment's hesitation, she alighted upon the pillow-cushion opposite her elder sister, letting out a sigh of releasing tension.

"Forgive me my strict formality, Tia." She mumbled, casting her gaze down as Celestia began cutting a slice of pie for her. "My mind is troubled with anxieties that I cannot bring myself to so easily dismiss."

The Princess of the Day furrowed her brow in worry, levitating the small dessert dish to her sister, who swept it up absentmindedly in her blue mists of magic.

"Please, Luna," she said gently, "You can speak freely to me about anything on your mind. You know this. What troubles you?"

For a long time, the younger princess gave no answer. Conflict glittered in the depths of her teal eyes, and Celestia knew patience would be essential in getting her sister to speak. She watched as Luna picked at her slice of pie, the passing moments marked only by the constant soft ticking of an old mantle clock that rested above an unused fireplace.

And Celestia waited.

"I have recently had a most disturbing dream, sister." Luna finally spoke. "It has left my heart awash in dread, and I fear its message bears ill for all Equestria."

Celestia's brows shot up and her eyes widened in shock. Luna had an unsettling dream? Her sister was just as prone to dreaming as anyone else, especially since she alone had the power to move through the dreamscape freely and enter the dreams of all ponies. But Luna was not given to having nightmares, much less any dreams of a remotely prophetic nature. Whatever her dream had been, it certainly had to be ominous indeed, if it weighed upon her mind and prompted her to fear so.

Regaining her composure, the elder alicorn gave a solemn nod.

"Please continue, little sister."

"I believe my dream is a warning."

"A warning?"

"About King Sombra."

The fork that had been floating, held aloft by Celestia's magic, fell to the floor with a low, metallic tone against the tiles. Luna noticed at once, winced, and looked at her sister anxiously.

"Please, do not be quick to judge my actions, my sister, but I visited the Prison of Shadows before bringing about my nightfall. I went there to confront Sombra." She confessed.

Celestia's eyebrows climbed even higher. "You attempted to interrogate him?"

"Yes," Luna grumbled bitterly, glaring down at her pie, "But he kept attempting to divert the subject. I learned nothing from him."

Silence fell once again, for a brief moment. Celestia closed her eyes in thought, a pensive frown on her features, and for a time, she was as still and unmoving as a mountain. But before long, she opened her eyes and looked at her sister.

"Your dream?" She prompted.

"I do not care to discuss it in detail at the moment," came the swift reply, "But I am positive Sombra is behind it, and that he is scheming something against us all!"

Luna punctuated this with a stomp of a hoof against the floor, and when her sister did not respond, she settled down again, instantly self-conscious.

"Please, forgive my outburst, Tia."

"Already forgiven and forgotten, dear one. But you are sure about this?"

"Quite. And I shall continue with my efforts. I intend to try to question Sombra again. Perhaps, given time, I shall wear down his resolve and he will confess about his plans. I _know_ he is hiding _something_."

Something overcame Celestia's heart at those words, an emotion she had felt only once or twice before in her life: Fear. Her sister had been freed from the influence and possession of the Nightmare-spirit that had plagued her for so long, but the elder princess had seen many a pony over the years reform from dark behavior, only to once again find themselves endangered by evil influences. It took willpower, constant vigilance, and strength of heart to resist those influences and prevent oneself from falling back into darkness. To her credit, Luna possessed all of those traits in abundance. Celestia knew of nopony else with such a noble warrior's heart and the spirit of a valiant defender, save Prince Shining Armor.

But King Sombra was unpredictably dangerous. Celestia and Luna had faced him once before, many years ago, and the Princess of the Day knew from experience that his power only grew stronger in the presence of negative feelings, especially fear.

"Do you disapprove?" Luna asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. Something in the way she voiced the question indicated she worried about what her sister would say, and Celestia exhaled a quiet sigh.

"No, I do not disapprove. But Luna...please, _please_ be careful. Whether or not he is a prisoner in the Shadow, Sombra will always be far more dangerous and cunning than many give him credit for. He will try to manipulate you, to warp your perception and twist your mind to darkness. He will look for any weakness or opening in your resolve that he can use as a chance to break down your strength. You _must_ not let down your guard around him, sister."

"Of course, Tia. I will remain vigilant and unyielding as ever in his presence." Luna replied in the most reassuring tone she could manage. "After all, you and our entire kingdom are relying upon me."

Then for a while, there was silence. However, Celestia was able to get her sister talking before long, and their conversations turned to more light-hearted matters. Soon they were laughing together again, as they had hundreds of years ago.

Yet the elder princess worried in secret, fearing for her bold sister.

_Oh please, Luna...please be careful...I worry you know not the danger you face..._


	3. Chapter 3: The Nightmare

Chapter 3: The Nightmare

_ Dark shrouds of deepest gray rose from the ground like living mist, vanishing at chest height. The mist rippled and shimmered, not unlike the Northern Lights visible in the winter. Soft snatches of strange whispers floated upon the air, falling silent before their secrets could be shared. The sky was a midnight-blue, starless void, and the path stretched forward, like a narrow trail cut into the Everfree Forest. But if this were a forest, the trees were only visible far, far ahead, and the closer one got to them, they vanished. A normal pony would have been puzzled to find themselves in such a place, possibly even frightened by it. But to Princess Luna, this sight was nothing new. The ever-shifting dreamscape was more familiar than anything she could recall from thousands of years ago, and dream-walking was as natural for her as breathing._

_ For a fleeting moment, she was overcome with apprehension, but quickly she recovered. Her subjects needed her, and she had no time to worry over whether or not King Sombra was influencing the dreamscape. And if he was, then she would no longer be caught off-guard. He had another thing coming if he was of a mind that she would cower in fear from a bad dream. On her own, Luna was nearly as formidable as her elder sister. In the dreamscape…she was a force to be reckoned with._

_ "_Do not be afraid, my subjects,_" she spoke into the ethereal mists, her words reverberating through the air, filling the Road of Dreaming with an immense, benevolent power. "_Your Princess of the Night shall shelter your dreams, 'till my sister brings the dawn._"_

_ She treaded the path with caution and a careful, searching gaze. The further she walked down the path, the more and more she saw the gates leading to each of her subjects' dreams. They were glittering, transparent portals that sparkled with a great many colors, blurring the sights around them. If a pony stepped through one, they would be taken into somepony else's dream. There, the dreamscape shifted according to the individual dreamer, to fill their dreams. The dreamscape was nothing short of labyrinthine, and many unicorn magicians who sought to traverse this strange place of otherness ran the risk of getting lost forever, trapped in dreams from which they could not wake._

_ But never Luna. She was the sole sovereign this place knew, and even should the Road of Dreaming try to shift beyond her recognition, she could bend it to her will with a thought._

_ Her duties took her past the dreams of several ponies she recognized. There was the dream of her sister's beloved pupil, Twilight Sparkle, who was clearly having anxiety over having possibly miscataloging a book, even in her sleep. With a chuckle, Luna touched her horn to the gate to Twilight's dreams._

_ "_Be at ease, my friend._" She whispered. Next to Twilight dreamed the dragon she was raising. Spike's dream patterns were slightly different from that of a pony, but his dream was hardly difficult to interpret. He dreamt of being a handsome adult, a strong, brave dragon warrior, to impress a unicorn friend of Twilight's. Luna smiled and shook her head in a good-natured, knowing sort of way. Pony or dragon, boys would be boys._

_ She walked on, her heart light and her spirit merry. This felt good, natural. Most importantly of all, it felt _right_. She was beginning to feel more like herself again. Perhaps her subjects would never look at her as they did Celestia, but she was beginning to accept that. After all, the sun and the moon cast two different lights. The sun brought forth heat and powerful illumination, but it could not be looked at for its blinding rays. The moon was further away, giving no heat to the ponies of Equestria, but its light was soft and its glow enchanting in a way the sun could not match. Why should this not also be mirrored in Luna and her sister, then? Celestia was a sweet and caring monarch in her_ _own way, and Luna was a sweet and caring monarch in hers__._

_ "_Heh! I do believe I am beginning to sound like Twilight Sparkle and her friends._" She laughed to herself, her giggle ringing like gentle, musical chimes. Her hooves were taking her unerringly toward the dreams of one particular young Pegasus filly she had grown fond of, when an icy wind blasted through the Road of Dreaming. Luna let out a ragged gasp as the cold seized her chest and stole the breath from her lungs. She shifted her weight from hoof to hoof anxiously, spreading her wings open wide to buffer herself against the unnatural wind._

_ "_What in the name of the stars…?_" She managed to gasp out. The ice on the wind began to sink mercilessly into the feathers of her wings, and around her, the dreamscape began to turn pitch-black._

_ "_No!_" She whispered in horror, looking desperately to the ponies' dream gates. Thankfully they endured, still shimmering despite the sudden darkness, and from what she could tell, the sleep of her subjects remained undisturbed. She let out a sigh of relief, then threw all of her will and focus against the magic of the Road of Dreaming, ordering it to return to its natural state._

_ It didn't. If anything, the darkness only continued to grow._

_ Luna began to grind her teeth in frustration, when she noticed a silvery glow emanating from her body. She glanced down, stunned. She had not cast her spell of moonbeams and starlight. Why was she glowing in the dreamscape?_

_ A familiar, rolling laugh rose and fell in the dark shadows, and a spark of rage ignited in her._

_ "_I may not be able to see you, Sombra, but I can sense your presence in this gloom. Give up this pointless display! I am the dreamscape's master, and no other!_" she shouted._

_**"Hardly a pointless display, sweet princess."**__ King Sombra's voice floated back out to her. __**"My powers may be shattered, but they are far from destroyed. I already recover in the Shadow where you have imprisoned me, and you and your sister are fools for not realizing this. This…oversight on your part shall be your undoing."**_

_ "_You forget one thing, Sombra,_" she pointed out, "_Celestia and I have bested you before. T'would be small effort to do so again."

**_"You bested me in a battle of sheer power,"_**_ he replied coolly, beginning to form from a coil of gray shadows, __**"You are sorely underestimating me, princess. Raw magical power is not the only thing I have at my disposal."**_

_ "_You're bluffing._"_

_**"You don't believe me?"**__ He asked in amused tones, an easy smile making its way onto his face. He strode near one of the dream gates, his legs trailing dark mists that stank of his foul magic. He glanced at her, brows narrowing and his smile becoming poisonous. His horn lit up with a sickly red glow, and his eyes flashed, emanating the glowing shadows of his magic. __**"A demonstration of fear's power, then."**_

_ Before she could cry out, Luna watched in horror as the unicorn king's dark magic shot toward the dream gate. The gate shivered, letting out a low, ill hum, and solid, jagged black crystals formed around its edges._

_**"Sometimes," **__Sombra crooned, looking upon his work with pride, __**"The fear in one heart is all that is needed to incite mass terror in many."**_

_ The black crystals shot from the gate shadows edged in a red glow, which quickly spread and attacked all the other dream gates in sight. In moments, the Road of Dreaming was filled with the cracking sound of dozens of dream gates forming the same black crystals. Luna shifted as she watched, her heart pounding, tears starting to form in her eyes._

_ "_Stop it!_" She yelled furiously at Sombra, lowering her horn and advancing on him. "_What do you want, you villain?! Tell me!_"_

_**"Power."**__ He answered, tilting his head and arching a brow, the smile never leaving his face. __**"A throne. I am a king, and I shall rule again. It is my right!"**_

_"_You will never hold the Crystal Empire or any place in Equestria under your iron hoof again, King of No Kingdom! Not so long as my sister and I still draw breath._" She promised in a low threat._

_**"Then how lucky for me that can be arranged." **__King Sombra said with a dark laugh, red tendrils of his magic rippling from his horn like ribbons, embracing and wrapping themselves around the black crystals that choked the dream gates. __**"You shall all watch as your beloved sun monarch DIES."**_

_ Luna jerked her head upward, and everything around her vanished, replaced by the image of Celestia attending the royal bath house, looking just as regal as ever, even shroud in her bathrobe as she was. She strode past her attendants, never once noticing that they all bore Sombra's wicked, bewitched eyes. She settled down into a hot bath, sighing with relief as her tense muscles started to unknot themselves, and she called for one of the attendants to bring her bath salts to her. Before she even suspected anything was amiss, all of the ponies there attacked her, throwing themselves at her and upon her, strangling her about her gleaming white neck and forcing her beneath the water._

_ "_TIA! TIA!_" Luna screamed, desperately trying to interfere, to keep her sister from being drowned. But try as she might, she passed through the images as though she were little more than a ghost, and she watched in heartbroken fear as her sister struggled and thrashed._

_**"It takes so little to snuff out the light of Celestia," **__Sombra's voice echoed all around her, __**"And even less to devour and steal the power you possess, Luna. You cannot stop me. The shadows are my throne, fear and mistrust are my bread, hatred and anger my offering wines, and my darkness shall thrive and spread as your precious lights die."**_

_ "_No! _" She snarled, shutting her eyes and forcing the images from her mind, shattering them over and over to rid herself of them. "_No! NO!_"_

She was jolted awake sharply, forcing herself out of the dreamscape, Sombra's triumphant laughter still echoing in her mind. She inhaled and exhaled raggedly, over and over, her heart racing.

"That nightmare again…" she whispered to herself as she panted, slowly rising from her bed, shaking as cold sweat dripped down her back. This was the fourth time she had had this dream in a week. Always it was the same—the nightmare would start as she tended to her dream-walking, Sombra would appear and claim that he would take back his status as a king, and he would force her to watch Celestia drown as he threatened to snuff out Luna's own power—yet her horror at it never lessened.

Pulling on her cloak that hung nearby, Luna slipped from her room swiftly and silently, moving through the palace to her sister's chambers. The first time that she had had the nightmare, she was positive it had truly happened, and nearly burst into the royal bath house itself, ready to fight to the death her sister's attackers. When she had realized the nature of what she had seen, she instead had decided that she would check on her sister whenever the dream occurred, just to be certain it had not truly happened. She arrived in short order, nodding to the guards standing on either side of the doors. Gently, she nudged the door open with her magic, peeking inside fretfully. Upon her bed, Celestia slumbered on, peaceful and content, never suspecting that her younger sister had just witnessed her death moments ago in a malignant dream. Luna sighed, relieved to find her sister safe for the moment. Then she turned and prepared to leave.

"Your Highness?" One of the guards asked, apprehensive and worried. "Is everything alright?"

"No," she answered, her voice like steel, "I must descend to the oubliette. There is a unicorn witch-king I am going to have a word with."


End file.
